Industry 'Turmoil'

Hot Chip on freebie confusion

09 May 2008 - Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard speaks out on his bemusement of the free download revolution.

With a heap of bands now giving away their music for free - Coldplay the latest addition with over 2 million copies of their new single Violet Hill recently downloaded for free - Joe Goddard revealed to the BBC that he thinks the music industry is "in turmoil".

But it only really works if you're a massive act.
Joe Goddard

In light of such new methods of music distribution, Goddard explained:

"It's a strange one but I think at the moment no-one knows what's really going on and the record companies are really searching for a new way to do business."

"It's all kind of in turmoil and people are just trying things out. Probably in the next couple of years we'll see a new kind of business emerging."

Goddard also expressed his views on the likes of Radiohead, Coldplay and The Charlatans giving away freebies:

"People can get music for free on the net so to give it away to people and admit that is a sensible thing."

He continued: "Big artists like that can make their money in other ways and they can still have a great career. But it only really works if you're a massive act. If we turned around and offered our single for free I don't know how many people would bother."

Georgie Rogers